ATOC want 400 miles more lines under wires!

[46426]

In what I believe is another attempt by ATOC to (try and) increase their profile, they have recently announced that they reckon another 400 miles of NR track should be electrified. According to...

http://www.atoc-comms.org/dynamic/at...and-congestion

...the following lines should be "sparked up" (nice expression! Pity it isn't mine!)...

A) Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central
B) Manchester to Leeds via Huddersfield (I think this would only work properly if done with f) below)
C) Basingstoke or Reading to Birmingham via Oxford, Leamington and Coventry (Why not via Solihull? I find this a bit odd, with no OH electrification at the Reading/Basingstoke end, unless they extend the wires from Heathrow Junction. A later thought - it could be that ATOC are assuming the GWL will be wired up to Bristol & Cardiff/Swansea)
D) Birmingham to Bristol via Cheltenham, which includes Gloucester. (There is no mention of Worcester, so I assume its Kings Norton - Cheltenham direct)
E) St Helens to Wigan (I hope this will encourage some Liverpool - Scotland InterCity services)
F) Leeds to York (This has been mentioned on other forums)
G) Preston to Manchester via Bolton (and a damned good idea, too. I hope they remodel Euxton Junction to get rid of the single line working, which is a pain in the glueteous Maximus!)
H) Crewe to Chester (Why not further along the North Wales Coast?)
I) Ipswich to Felixstowe (The principle consideration here has to be Container freight)
J) Swindon to Cheltenham (This, surely, can only work IF the FGW line is electrified AND D) above is done, AND to/through Worcester)

Those are my thoughts; what do you think?

[ashurstdave]

Some of the proposals will mean either shorter routes for trains or a lot of diesel trains travelling under the wires? For example, REading / Basingstoke - Birmingham - currently there is an hourly service from Bournemouth to Manchester via this route using Voyagers. Will this mean the services to be new electric trains only running from Basingstoke or Reading? The report makes good reading but in my opinion it should be all or nothing!

[class47]

Will it ever happen though, in the current economic climate. It makes sense and would be good for the "Green" statistics, but I have my doubts.

[46426]

A) Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central
E) St Helens to Wigan
G) Preston to Manchester via Bolton

Well, it looks like ATOC have got an early Christmas pressie. Alistair Darling (in his Pre-Budget Report) announced that there would be additional expansion of electrification in Lancashire. This would be over & above the Liverpool - Manchester electrification, which was announced in July 2009. Andrew Adonis announced a couple of days ago that Liverpool - Preston AND Manchester - Preston (which ATOC suggested above) are to be electrified, so ATOC has a couple of wishes granted. One extra line that will also be wired up is Preston - Blackpool North.
This means that Liverpool & Manchester - Blackpool can use EMUs, but things could be more interesting from an "InterCity" point of view. Virgin COULD re-introduce Blackpool - Euston services, and someone could have all-electric Liverpool/Manchester - Preston - Carlisle - Glasgow/Edinburgh services. A further thought is that Glasgow/Edinburgh - Carlisle - Preston - Manchester services could 'join onto' Manchester - Birmingham services, which used to happen 10-15 years ago.
Oh, Euxton Junction HAS been re-modelled. I checked on NR's "Baseline Declaration", then had a look at Google maps. So, sorry about that.